As long as you get TANF or medical assistance, DSHS will contact you about every six months to review your good cause claim. It is very important that you stay aware of your good cause status and that you clearly tell DSHS if you are still afraid or if your circumstances have changed.

If you are still afraid, make sure your worker understands you are afraid and verifies that your good cause claim remains approved. If your worker changes or stops your good cause claim, and you disagree, talk with your worker's supervisor. You may also ask for a fair hearing.

If your circumstances change, or if those of your abuser change, you may decide that it is relatively safe now to collect child support. You can withdraw your good cause claim and DCS can begin collecting support. Talk to your DSHS worker if you want to withdraw your good cause claim.

After you no longer get TANF or medical assistance, DCS will keep your case at Good Cause Level A or Good Cause Level B, and DSHS will never contact you directly to review your good cause status again unless you reopen your TANF or medical assistance case.

When DCS initiates collection action an employer or business has twenty days to answer the Notice of Payroll Deduction or Order to Withhold and Deliver. The employer or business has seven days to send the withheld support to DCS. The law requires DCS to send the Custodial Parent support within two working days after receipt.

When an employer refuses to cooperate with a withholding action, DCS may have to begin noncompliance action against the employer. We start the formal action by sending a Notice of Noncompliance to the employer. This additional legal process can take an additional month or more. For more information refer to the Employer and Income Withholding Information page on the DCS web site.

When DCS initiates collection action an employer or business has twenty days to answer the Notice of Payroll Deduction or Order to Withhold and Deliver. The employer or business has seven days to send the withheld support to DCS. The law requires DCS to send you support within two working days after receipt.

For your convenience, DCS can send your payments as direct deposits to your bank account. Click here to download copy of the Direct Deposit 22-078 brochure that includes the authorization form. For more information regarding direct deposit contact our EFT Customer Service Unit at 1-800-468-7422.

When an employer refuses to cooperate with a withholding action, DCS may have to begin noncompliance action against the employer. We start the formal action by sending a Notice of Noncompliance to the employer. This additional legal process can take an additional month or more. For more information refer to the Employer and Income Withholding Information page on the DCS web site.

The length of time depends on several things. Sometimes you can receive a child support payment within the first month after DCS takes collection action. The process can take longer if there is no child support order, the paying parent is on public assistance, has no assets, or lives in another state.

We try to process your application as quickly as possible. A lot depends on how soon we're able to get the information we need to determine if you're eligible. Generally, most food stamp and TANF cash benefits are processed within 30 days. Pregnancy medical is usually processed within 15 working days. Cases where information is needed from doctors, such as disability determinations, can take more than 45 days. You can help us by turning in requested information quickly.

(1) Marriage or a registered domestic partnership. If a child is born during a marriage or registered domestic partnership, the child is presumed to be the child of that marriage or domestic partnership. This creates what is called a "presumption of parentage." Unless a parent or some other interested party later challenges that presumption, the spouse or domestic partner will be considered the legal parent of the child.

(2) Acknowledgment of Parentage. The Acknowledgment of Parentage is a legal form. The person who signs the form will be considered the legal parent after the form is signed, witnessed or notarized, and filed at the Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics (DOH/CHS).

(3) Court Order. The court may determine if a person is the legal parent of a child. The court may require a genetic test of the mother, child, and a man alleged to be the biological father.

If you get TANF now or received welfare (TANF, Tribal TANF, or AFDC) in the past, you can get services from DCS at no charge.

Starting in October 2007, DCS must charge a fee of $25 on cases where we collect and send out at least $500 of child support during a federal fiscal year for a custodial parent who never got TANF, Tribal TANF, or AFDC for any children (not just the ones currently in your household). The federal fiscal year runs from October first through September 30th. If you have a question about whether your case would be subject to a fee, ask DCS.

If the other parent lives in another state, the other state may charge a fee. You can contact DCS to find out if fees from another state apply in your case.

NOTE: Even if you agree with the terms in this notice, the other party to the case may ask for a hearing. If you or the other party asks for a hearing, you will receive notice of the date, time, and place of the scheduled hearing. If you do not attend and participate in a scheduled hearing, a support order may be issued with no input from you.

If you still have questions, contact your support enforcement officer at the phone number listed on the last page of the notice you received. If you are not sure which office handles your case, call the KIDS line at 1-800-442-KIDS (5437).

The $25 fee will be deducted from your child support after the first $500 has been disbursed to you in the federal fiscal year (October 1st through September 30th). There is no need for you to make or send in a fee payment.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CUSTODIANS RECEIVING IV-D CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES:

Beginning October 1, 2007, federal law provides that certain child support cases are subject to a $25 fee each year. Washington law provides that this fee will be paid by the custodial parent. The $25 fee will be withheld from child support payments that are made on the case, but only after $500 in child support has been disbursed to the family between October 1 and September 30 (the federal fiscal year), and only if the custodial parent has never received TANF, Tribal TANF or AFDC on behalf of a child.

If you have questions, or would like additional information about the $25 fee please refer to the following links, or call the KIDS general information line at 1-800-442-KIDS.

Physical abuse by one person against another is a crime. It also can force a parent to make difficult decisions about child support. Although the Division of Child Support (DCS) would like to collect the money owed to every family, the safety of the family must come first. The list below offers some options to consider when making decisions about child support in light of family violence.

You can tell the police

Harming another person is against the law. You can call your local police department and file a report. If you have left home and have to go back to retrieve clothes or belongings, you may ask the police to accompany you.

The ACP assists victims of family violence who are relocating to avoid further abuse. It helps participants keep their home, work and/or school address secret by providing a substitute mailing address. ACP will:

Give you a substitute mailing address and help you use it.

Forward your first class mail from the substitute address to your home.

Assist you in getting many state and local agency services without revealing your address.

Help you vote or marry without having those records available to the public.

If you receive public assistance, you can get permission not to help collect child support

Generally, when you receive public assistance (either a cash grant or medical), the Division of Child Support opens a child support enforcement case and you are expected to help us establish and/or collect support. However, if you believe that establishing or enforcing child support will put you or the child in danger, you may claim "good cause" not to cooperate. The Community Services Office (CSO) will evaluate your claim and may decide that it is too dangerous even to open a child support case. You may claim Good Cause when you apply for assistance, or any time afterward. The public assistance office may decide that DCS should stop all establishment and enforcement action on your case, or they may decide that it is safe to continue. You have the right to a hearing on this decision. If good cause is granted, your case will be reviewed by the CSO on a regular basis to see if the danger continues.

If you do not receive public assistance, you can stop enforcement of the child support order

Nonassistance custodians can ask DCS to stop working their case. At your request, we will take no action to collect support owed to you. However, if the noncustodial parent owes any back support to Washington State, DCS will continue to collect these arrears. The custodian may request a Conference Board if the collection of arrears by DCS endangers the family. To stop enforcement of your case, contact your Support Enforcement Officer.

Does stopping enforcement mean the debt goes away?

If a child support order exists, the child support debt continues to accrue, even when DCS does not collect. In both public assistance and non assistance cases, asking DCS to stop collecting does not end the other parent's responsibility to pay child support. If a child support order exists, the noncustodial parent still owes that amount each month. Unpaid support is a debt that you may be able to collect later.

You can ask a court to grant a civil order of protection.

A court can order an offender to stay away from you or the children. A person violating a court order is subject to punishment by the court. Some county courts have a Domestic Violence Unit to help you through this process. Some can help you with filing the necessary documents to obtain an order of protection. Others have advocates to help you in court. Learn more about domestic violence from the Washington Violence Against Women Network.

DCS is governed by strict confidentiality rules. We have disclosed to you that your employee owes child support for the sole purpose of getting you to withhold from the employee's paycheck. We can't discuss any other details of the employee's case with you without the employee's written authorization. Click here to download a form your employee can sign giving DCS permission to share case information with you.

If DCS sends you an Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support ( "OWI") for someone who used to work for you, check box #2 on the Answer form: "We do not employ or owe money to the parent." Please provide further information requested by the form, such as dates you employed this person, if you plan to rehire, is there a pending L&I claim, and where they are working now (if you know).

If you're expecting the employee to come back soon, please keep the OWI on file and start withholding when you can.

If DCS sends you an Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support ( "OWI") for someone who never worked for you, please don't just ignore it. The OWI includes an Answer form: check box #2, "We do not employ or owe money to the parent."

You may not receive services in two states at the same time. You must close your benefits in the state you are leaving. If possible, obtain a letter stating your benefits have ended. After you move you can Apply for Services online, contact our customer service center at 1-877-501-2233 or visit any local community services office.